An hour before the Niagara-on-the-Lake Horticultural Society’s annual plant sale opened Saturday, shoppers were already queueing outside the Meridian Credit Union Arena — by 9 a.m. the line stretched the length of the building, and two minutes later, every hellebore was gone.
The cash-only sale in Virgil draws buyers each May with member-donated perennials priced well below commercial garden centres, with proceeds funding horticulture scholarships at Niagara College and the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, along with public green-space projects in town including work on the library garden. Specialty plants sold out within minutes, and volunteers and local growers struggled to predict how much inventory the morning would require.
Susan Dodd, the event’s co-ordinator, said hellebores are a draw precisely because they are hard to find locally, and regulars know to expect them.
“People that shop every year know that the perennials are grown by our members, so it’s from a garden versus a garden centre,” she said. “They know that they’re going to get a good deal and hopefully a lot of variety.”
Predicting turnout or revenue is impossible from year to year, she said, making it equally difficult to know how many plants to order from growers ahead of time.
Marla Percy, a volunteer and plant identifier at the event, said the price gap with commercial retailers drives much of the demand.
“We have plants out there that are maybe $20 but in the store in the cash to 40,” said Percy. “You’re not getting a little stump, you’re getting the plant.”
Beyond scholarships, Percy said, the society also funds community gardens at the library and at William and Nassau streets, contributes trees to local schools and supports the Heritage Trail.
“It goes to supporting, horticulturally, the whole area,” she said.
Volunteer Ingrid Regier said buyers trust plants sourced from members’ gardens for a reason.
“Anything out here comes from our gardens, so that’s a plus right there, because you know they’ve been growing in Marla’s garden or mine or somebody’s, so it’s a healthy plant,” said Regier.
Regier said the planning committee visits growers early each season to select stock, and the society works with several local suppliers including Peter Horbach, who donates a portion of his inventory each year. Plants that do not meet the volunteers’ standards are pulled before sale.
The society also established a new scholarship this year in memory of Joanne Young, a longtime member and prominent local landscaper.
Young, who died suddenly last September at 56, spent more than 30 years designing gardens across Niagara-on-the-Lake and was known in the society as its go-to authority on all things horticultural.
The sale has run annually since 2013. The society’s next major fundraiser is the Garden Tour on July 10, which draws visitors from across Ontario.
